U.S. patent number 6,312,123 [Application Number 09/390,571] was granted by the patent office on 2001-11-06 for method and apparatus for uv ink jet printing on fabric and combination printing and quilting thereby.
This patent grant is currently assigned to L&P Property Management Company. Invention is credited to Milan Badovinac, Richard N. Codos, William W. Collan, Robert B. Comerford, Angelo Quattrociocchi.
United States Patent |
6,312,123 |
Codos , et al. |
November 6, 2001 |
**Please see images for:
( Certificate of Correction ) ** |
Method and apparatus for UV ink jet printing on fabric and
combination printing and quilting thereby
Abstract
Ink jet printing is provided onto fabric using ultraviolet (UV)
light curable ink. The ink is first cured with UV light to about a
90-97% cure, and then is subjected to heating to more completely
cure the ink and to remove by evaporation or otherwise, the uncured
monomers and producing a printed image of ink having less than 100
PPM of uncured monomers, and as low as 10 PPM of uncured monomers.
The printing is provided in a quilting machine having a quilting
station and a printing station located upstream of the quilting
station. Preferably, at the printing station, only a top layer of
fabric is printed with a multicolored design under the control of a
programmed controller. UV curable ink is jetted at a dot density of
about 180.times.254 dots or more per inch per color, each dot of
about 80 picoliters. A conveyor moves the printed fabric from the
printing station through a UV curing station where a UV curing
light head moves either with the print head or independent of the
print head to expose the deposited drops of UV ink with a beam of
about 300 watts per linear inch of energy, at a rate that applies
about 1 joule per square centimeter. The conveyor then conveys the
fabric through a heated drying station or oven where the fabric is
heated to about 300.degree. F. for from about 30 seconds up to
about three minutes. Forced hot air is preferably used to apply the
heat in the oven, but other heating methods such as infrared or
other radiant heaters may be used. Before, or preferably after, the
heat curing, the fabric is combined with other material layers and
a quilted pattern is applied in program controlled coordination
with the printed pattern.
Inventors: |
Codos; Richard N. (Warren,
NJ), Collan; William W. (Freehold, NJ), Comerford; Robert
B. (Stewartsville, NJ), Quattrociocchi; Angelo
(Thornhill, CA), Badovinac; Milan (Mississouga,
CA) |
Assignee: |
L&P Property Management
Company (South Gate, CA)
|
Family
ID: |
23543013 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/390,571 |
Filed: |
September 3, 1999 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
|
|
070948 |
May 1, 1998 |
5873315 |
|
|
|
Current U.S.
Class: |
347/102; 347/101;
347/96 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B41J
11/0021 (20210101); B41M 7/0081 (20130101); D05B
11/00 (20130101); B41J 2/01 (20130101); D05B
33/00 (20130101); B41J 11/0022 (20210101); B41J
11/0015 (20130101); D06P 5/2005 (20130101); B41J
3/4078 (20130101); D06P 5/30 (20130101); B41J
11/0024 (20210101); B41J 11/00214 (20210101); B41J
11/002 (20130101); B41M 7/009 (20130101); B41J
2/16585 (20130101); B41M 5/0064 (20130101); D05D
2305/12 (20130101); D05D 2305/22 (20130101); B41M
5/0047 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B41J
11/00 (20060101); D05B 33/00 (20060101); D06P
5/30 (20060101); D06P 5/20 (20060101); B41J
2/01 (20060101); D05B 11/00 (20060101); B41J
3/407 (20060101); B41J 002/01 () |
Field of
Search: |
;347/101,102,96,212
;399/251,341,296 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0080448 |
|
Jun 1983 |
|
EP |
|
2322597 |
|
Sep 1998 |
|
GB |
|
2322597A |
|
Sep 1998 |
|
GB |
|
61-164836 |
|
Jul 1986 |
|
JP |
|
62092849 |
|
Sep 1987 |
|
JP |
|
2-220883 |
|
Sep 1990 |
|
JP |
|
7-66530 |
|
Mar 1995 |
|
JP |
|
8-150707 |
|
Jun 1996 |
|
JP |
|
8-218018 |
|
Aug 1996 |
|
JP |
|
WO 97/04964 |
|
Feb 1997 |
|
WO |
|
WO 97/42034 |
|
Nov 1997 |
|
WO |
|
WO 97/47481 |
|
Dec 1997 |
|
WO |
|
Primary Examiner: Barlow; John
Assistant Examiner: Shah; M
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Wood, Herron & Evans,
L.L.P.
Parent Case Text
This application is related to the commonly assigned and copending
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/250,352, filed Feb. 16, 1999
entitled Combination Printing And Quilting Method And Apparatus,
which is a continuation-in-part of the U.S. patent application Ser.
No. 09/070,948, filed May 1, 1998, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,315,
both of which are hereby expressly incorporated by reference
herein.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A quilting method comprising the steps of:
jetting UV curable ink onto a fabric to form a printed pattern on
the fabric;
curing the ink on the fabric; and
combining one or more secondary layers of material with the fabric;
and
quilting a quilted pattern on the combined layers of material and
fabric over the pattern printed on the fabric.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing step includes the steps
of:
exposing the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabric to UV light to
at least partially cure the ink on the fabric; and
heating the fabric having the at least partially cured UV light
cured ink thereon to reduce its content of uncured UV curable
ink.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing step includes the steps
of:
exposing the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabric with a beam of
about 300 watts per linear inch of UV light at a rate sufficient to
apply about 1 joule per square centimeter of the ink; and
heating the fabric having the at least partially cured UV light
cured ink thereon to reduce uncured UV curable ink.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing step includes the steps
of:
exposing the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabric to UV light to
at least partly cure the ink on the fabric; and
heating the fabric having the at least partially cured UV light
cured ink thereon to about 300.degree. F. for at least about 30
seconds to reduce uncured UV curable ink.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein the curing step includes the steps
of:
exposing the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabric with a beam of
about 300 watts per linear inch of UV light at a rate sufficient to
apply about 1 joule per square centimeter of the ink; and
heating the fabric having the at least partially cured UV light
cured ink thereon to about 300.degree. F. for at least about 30
seconds to reduce uncured UV curable ink to less than 100 PPM.
6. A method of printing on fabric comprising the steps of:
jetting UV curable ink onto a fabric; then
substantially curing the jetted ink on the fabric by exposing the
UV curable ink to UV light, the curing resulting in substantially
cured UV ink on the fabric containing uncured monomers of the UV
curable ink; then
heating the fabric having the substantially cured UV light cured
ink thereon and thereby reducing the level of the uncured monomers
of the UV curable ink on the fabric.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the heating step includes the step
of:
heating the fabric having the substantially cured UV light cured
ink thereon and thereby reducing uncured monomers of the UV curable
ink on the fabric to an order of magnitude of 100 PPM or less.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein the heating step includes the step
of:
heating the fabric having the substantially cured UV light cured
ink thereon and thereby reducing uncured monomers of the UV curable
ink on the fabric to less than 100 PPM.
9. The method of claim 6 wherein the ink jetting step includes the
step of
jetting the UV curable ink at a dot density of at least about 180
dots per inch, each dot including about 80 picoliters of the
ink.
10. The method of claim 6 wherein the curing step includes the step
of:
exposing the UV curable ink jetted onto the fabric with a beam of
about 300 watts per linear inch of UV light for a time that is
sufficient to apply about 1 joule per square centimeter of the
ink.
11. The method of claim 6 wherein the heating step includes the
step of:
heating the fabric having the substantially cured UV light cured
ink thereon to about 300.degree. F. for at least about 30
seconds.
12. A fabric printing apparatus comprising:
a supply of UV curable ink;
an ink jet print head positioned to deposit dots of UV curable ink
onto a fabric;
a UV light curing head positioned relative to the ink jet print
head and configured to expose the ink deposited by the ink jet
print head on the fabric to UV light of sufficient energy to
substantially cure the ink; and
a heating station positioned relative to the UV light curing head
to heat the fabric having the exposed ink thereon with energy
sufficient to substantially reduce the fraction of uncured monomers
of the UV curable ink on the fabric; and
means for conveying the fabric sequentially past the print and
curing heads, then the heating station.
13. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein:
the UV light curing head is operative to expose the ink to UV light
at an intensity sufficient to cure the UV curable ink deposited on
the fabric to at least 90% cure; and
the heating station is operative to heat the exposed ink to a
temperature and for a time sufficient to reduce the portion of
uncured UV curable ink on the fabric.
14. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein:
the UV light curing head is operative to expose the ink to UV light
at an intensity sufficient to cure the UV curable ink deposited on
the fabric to at least 90% cure.
15. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein:
the heating station is operative to heat the exposed ink to a
temperature and for a time sufficient to reduce the portion of
uncured UV curable ink on the fabric.
16. A quilting apparatus comprising the printing apparatus of claim
12 and further comprising:
a quilting station positioned to quilt a quilted pattern onto the
fabric.
17. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the ink jet print head is
configured to dispense the UV curable ink onto the fabric at a dot
density of at least about 180 dots per inch, each dot including
about 80 picoliters of the ink.
18. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the UV light curing head is
configured to expose the UV curable ink on the fabric to a beam of
about 300 watts per linear inch of UV light for a time sufficient
to apply about 1 joule of UV light energy per square centimeter of
the ink.
19. The apparatus of claim 12 wherein the heating station is
configured to heat the at least partially cured UV light cured ink
on the fabric to about 300.degree. F. for at least about 30
seconds.
20. A method of printing onto a substrate comprising the steps
of:
depositing polymerizable ink onto the substrate;
polymerizing the ink by initiating a polymerizing reaction in the
ink and maintaining the reaction until the ink is substantially
polymerized but contains at least some volatile unpolymerized
monomers within an area of the substrate across which the ink is
substantially polymerized; then
drying the substantially polymerized ink to reduce its content of
unpolymerized monomers across said area of the substrate.
21. The method of claim 20 wherein:
the depositing of the ink includes jetting ink onto the
substrate.
22. The method of claim 20 wherein:
the depositing of the ink includes depositing UV curable ink onto
the substrate; and
the polymerizing of the ink on the substrate includes exposing the
UV curable ink to UV light.
23. The method of claim 20 wherein:
the drying of the ink includes heating the substantially
polymerized ink on the substrate and thereby reducing volatile ink
components on the substrate.
24. The method of claim 23 wherein:
the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the
substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon.
25. The method of claim 20 wherein:
the depositing of the ink includes jetting UV curable ink onto the
substrate;
the polymerizing of the jetted ink on the substrate includes
exposing the UV curable ink on the substrate to UV light;
the drying of the ink includes heating the substantially
polymerized UV light curable ink on the substrate and thereby
reducing volatile UV curable ink components on the substrate.
26. The method of claim 25 wherein:
the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the
substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon.
27. The method of claim 25 wherein:
the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the
substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon to evaporate at
least some of the unpolymerized monomers of ink from the
substrate.
28. The method of claim 25 wherein:
the drying includes flowing hot air onto the substrate having the
substantially polymerized UV curable ink thereon to further
polymerize at least some of the unpolymerized monomers of ink from
the substrate.
29. The method of claim 6 wherein:
the jetting of UV curable ink onto a fabric to form a printed
pattern on the fabric includes jetting UV curable ink of a type
that must be exposed to UV light at an energy level above a curing
threshold before it will cure;
the substantially curing the jetted ink on the fabric includes
exposing the UV curable ink to UV light at an energy level above
the curing threshold; and
the heating of the fabric having the substantially cured UV light
cured ink thereon includes heating the fabric with thermal energy
that includes energy other than UV light at the energy level above
the curing threshold.
Description
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to printing on fabric, and
particularly to the printing of patterns onto fabric used in
quilting such as onto multiple layer materials such as mattress
covers, comforters, bedspreads and the like. The invention is more
particularly related to the ink jet printing onto fabric, and to
ink jet printing with ultra-violet light (UV) curable inks.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Quilting is a special art in the general field of sewing in which
patterns are stitched through a plurality of layers of material
over a two dimensional area of the material. The multiple layers of
material normally include at least three layers, one a woven
primary or facing sheet that will have a decorative finished
quality, one a usually woven backing sheet that may or may not be
of a finished quality, and one or more internal layers of thick
filler material, usually of randomly oriented fibers. The stitched
patterns maintain the physical relationship of the layers of
material to each other as well as provide ornamental qualities.
Frequently, it is desirable to combine stitched patterns with
printed patterns in mattress cover and other quilt manufacture.
Application of the quilted pattern requires the application of ink
to fabric, which, unlike paper, plastic or other smooth surfaces,
presents a texture, or third dimension or depth, to the surface on
which the printing is applied. A highly preferred method of
applying ink to fabric is by jetting the ink onto the fabric by the
process known as ink jet printing.
In ink jet printing, two categories of inks are used, solvent based
inks and UV curable inks. Solvent based inks include either water
or organic based solvents. Solvent based inks are cured by
evaporation of the solvents. Some solvent based inks cure only by
air drying, but many require the application of heat to enhance the
evaporation of the solvent and, in some cases, to facilitate a
chemical change or polymerization of the ink. UV curable inks
include monomers that polymerize when exposed to UV light at a
threshold energy level.
Heat or air curable inks that are organic solvent based or water
based inks usually do not have the high color intensity that UV
curable inks might have because the pigments or dyes that produce
the color are somewhat diluted by the solvent. Furthermore, organic
solvents can produce an occupational hazard, requiring that costly
measures be taken to minimize contact of the evaporating solvents
by workers and to minimize other risks such as the risks of fire.
Solvent based inks also tend to dry out and eventually clog ink jet
nozzles.
UV curable inks are capable of providing higher color intensity and
do not present the hazards that many solvent based inks present.
Printing with UV curable ink on fabric, however, presents other
problems that have not been solved in the prior art. To cure UV
ink, it must be possible to precisely focus a UV curing light onto
the ink. UV ink, when jetted onto fabric, particularly onto highly
textured fabric, is distributed at various depths over the texture
of the fabric surface. Furthermore, the ink tends to soak into or
wick into the fabric. As a result, the ink is present at various
depths on the fabric, so that some of the ink at depths above or
below the focal plane of the UV curing light evade the light needed
to cause a total cure of the ink. In order to cure, UV ink must be
exposed to UV light at an energy level above a curing threshold.
However, increasing the intensity of the curing light beyond
certain levels in order to enhance cure of the ink can have
destructive effects on the fabric.
UV curing of jetted ink on fabric has a limited cure depth that is
determined by the depth of field of the focused curing UV light.
Therefore, the UV light proceeds to cure only about 90%, or 97%,
and can be even up to about 99% of the ink when deposited on
fabric. However, if more than an order of magnitude of
approximately 100 parts per million (PPM) (0.01%) of the total
volume of the jetted ink remains uncured, persons sensitive to the
uncured monomers can suffer reactions. This is particularly
unacceptable for fabrics such as mattress covers, as well as for
clothing and many other fabrics.
Further, ink jet printing can be carried out with different ink
color dots applied in a side-by-side pattern or in a dot-on-dot (or
drop-on-drop) pattern. The dot-on-dot method is capable of
producing a higher color density, but the higher density dot-on-dot
pattern is even more difficult to cure when the cure is by UV
light.
In addition, UV ink can be applied quickly to reduce wicking and UV
ink can be developed to allow minimized wicking. Some wicking,
however, helps to remove artifacts. Further, inks developed to
eliminate wicking leave a stiff paintlike layer on the surface of
the fabric, giving the fabric a stiff feel or "bad hand".
Therefore, to reduce the UV curing problem by eliminating wicking
is not desirable.
For the reasons stated above, UV curable inks have not been
successfully used to print onto fabric. Heat curable inks can be
cured on fabric. As a result, the ink jet printing of solvent based
inks and heat curable or air dryable ink has been the primary
process used to print on fabric. Accordingly, the advantages of UV
curable ink jet printing have not been available for printing onto
fabric.
There exists a need in printing of patterns onto mattress ticking
and mattress cover quilts, as well as onto other types of fabrics,
for a process to bring about an effective cure of UV curable inks
and to render practical the printing with UV curable inks onto
fabric.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
An objective of the present invention is to provide for the
printing of UV inks onto fabric, particularly highly textured
fabrics such as, for example, quilts and mattress covers. A
particular objective of the invention is to provide for the
effective curing of UV inks jetted onto fabric by reducing uncured
monomers to tolerable level, for example, to less than an order of
magnitude of 1000 PPM, preferably to less than 100 PPM.
According to the principles of the present invention, UV ink is
printed onto fabric and the cure of the ink is initiated by
exposure to UV light. With or following the exposure to the UV
light, the printed fabric is subjected to heat which extends the UV
light initiated curing process. More particularly, UV curable ink
is jetted onto a fabric, the jetted ink is exposed to UV curing
light to cure the ink to about 90 to 97% polymerization, and then
the fabric bearing the partially cured jetted ink is heated in a
heat curing oven at which the UV light initiated polymerization
continues, uncured monomers are vaporized, or both, in order to
produce a printed image of UV ink that contains an order of
magnitude of not more than 100 PPM of uncured monomer.
According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, UV ink is
jetted onto a highly textured fabric such as a mattress cover
ticking material, preferably prior to the quilting of the fabric
into a mattress cover. The ink is jetted at a dot density of from
about 180.times.254 dots per inch per color to about 300.times.300
dots per inch per color. Preferably, four colors of a CMYK color
palette are applied, each in drops or dots of about 80 picoliters,
or approximately 7 nanograms, per drop utilizing a UV ink jet print
head. A UV curing light head is provided, which moves either with
the print head or independent of the print head and exposes the
deposited drops of UV ink with a beam of about 300 watts per linear
inch, applying about 1 joule per square centemeter, thereby
producing at least a 90% UV cure. The fabric on which the jetted
ink has been thereby partially UV cured is then passed through an
oven where it is heated to about 300.degree. F. for from about 30
seconds up to about three minutes. Forced hot air is preferably
used to apply the heat in the oven, but other heating methods such
as infrared or other radiant heaters may be used.
The invention makes it possible to print images on fabric with UV
curable ink by providing effective curing of the ink, leaving less
than 100 PPM of uncured monomers, and usually leaving only about 10
PPM of uncured monomers. Thus, the invention provides the benefits
of using UV curable ink over water and solvent based inks,
including the advantages of high color saturation potential, low
toxicity, without clogging of the jet nozzles.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more
readily apparent from the following detailed description of the
preferred embodiments of the invention.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The FIGURE is a diagrammatic perspective view of a one embodiment
of a web-fed mattress cover quilting machine embodying principles
of the present invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The FIGURE illustrates a quilting machine 10 having a stationary
frame 11 with a longitudinal extent represented by an arrow 12 and
a transverse extent represented by an arrow 13. The machine 10 has
a front end 14 into which is advanced a web 15 of ticking or facing
material from a supply roll 16 rotatably mounted to the frame 11. A
roll of backing material 17 and one or more rolls of filler
material 18 are also supplied in web form on rolls also rotatably
mounted to the frame 11. The webs are directed around a plurality
of rollers (not shown) onto a conveyor or conveyor system 20, each
at various points along the conveyor 20. The conveyor system 20
preferably includes a pair of opposed pin tentering belt sets 21
which extend through the machine 10 and onto which the outer layer
15 is fed at the front end 14 of the machine 10. The belt sets 21
retain the web 15 in a precisely known longitudinal position
thereon as the belt sets 21 carry the web 15 through the
longitudinal extent of the machine 10, preferably with an accuracy
of 0 to 1/4 inch. The longitudinal movement of the belt 20 is
controlled by a conveyor drive 22. The conveyor 20 may take
alternative forms including, but not limited to, opposed cog belt
side securements, longitudinally moveable positive side clamps that
engage and tension the material of the web 15 or other securing
structure for holding the facing material web 15 fixed relative to
the conveyor 20.
Along the conveyor 20 are provided three stations, including an ink
jet printing station 25, a UV light curing station 24, a heated
drying station 26, a quilting station 27 and a panel cutting
station 28. The backing material 17 and filler material 18 are
brought into contact with the top layer 15 between the drying
station 26 and the quilting station 27 to form a multi-layered
material 29 for quilting at the quilting station 27. Preferably,
the layers 17,18 are not engaged by the belt sets 21 of the
conveyor 20, but rather, are brought into contact with the bottom
of the web 15 upstream of the quilting station 27 to extend beneath
the web 15 through the quilting station 27 and between a pair of
pinch rollers 44 at the downstream end of the quilting station 27.
The rollers 44 operate in synchronism with the belt sets 21 and
pull the webs 17,18 through the machine 10 with the web 15.
The printing station 25 includes one or more ink jet printing heads
30 that are transversely moveable across the frame 11 and may also
be longitudinally moveable on the frame 11 under the power of a
transverse drive 31 and an optional longitudinal drive 32.
Alternatively, the head 30 may extend across the width of the web
15 and be configured to print an entire transverse line of points
simultaneously onto the web 15.
The ink jet printing head 30 is configured to jet UV ink at 80
picoliters, or approximately 7 nanograms, per drop, and to do so
for each of four colors according to a CMYK color pallette. The
dots are preferably dispensed at a resolution of about 180 dots per
inch by about 254 dots per inch. The resolution may be higher or
lower as desired, but the 180.times.254 resolution is preferred. If
desirable for finer images or greater color saturation,
300.times.300 dots per inch is preferable. The drops of the
different colors can be side-by-side or dot-on-dot. Dot-on-dot
(sometimes referred to as drop-on-drop) produces higher
density.
The print head 30 is provided with controls that allow for the
selective operation of the head 30 to selectively print two
dimensional designs 34 of one or more colors onto the top layer web
15. The drive 22 for the conveyor 20, the drives 31,32 for the
print head 30 and the operation of the print head 30 are program
controlled to print patterns at known locations on the web 15 by a
controller 35, which includes a memory 36 for storing programmed
patterns, machine control programs and real time data regarding the
nature and longitudinal and transverse location of printed designs
on the web 15 and the relative longitudinal position of the web 15
in the machine 10.
The UV curing station 24 includes a UV light curing head 23 that
may move with the print head 30 or, as is illustrated, move
independently of the print head 30. The UV light curing head 23 is
configured to sharply focus a narrow longitudinally extending beam
of UV light onto the printed surface of the fabric. The head 23 is
provided with a transverse drive 19 which is controlled to
transversely scan the printed surface of the fabric to move the
light beam across the fabric. Preferably, the head 23 is
intelligently controlled by the controller 35 to selectively
operate and quickly move across areas having no printing and to
scan only the printed images with UV light at a rate sufficiently
slow to UV cure the ink, thereby avoiding wasting time and UV
energy scanning unprinted areas. If the head 23 is included in the
printing station 25 and is coupled to move with the print head 30,
UV curing light can be used in synchronism with the dispensing of
the ink immediately following the dispensing of the ink.
The UV curing station 24, in the illustrated embodiment, is located
immediately downstream of the printing station 25 so that the
fabric, immediately following printing, is subjected to a UV light
cure. In theory, one photon of UV light is required to cure one
free radical of ink monomer so as to set the ink. In practice, one
joule of UV light energy per square centimeter of printed surface
area is supplied by the UV curing head 23. This is achieved by
sweeping a UV beam across the printed area of the fabric at a power
of 300 watts per linear inch of beam width. This is sufficient to
produce a UV cure of at least 90%. Increasing the UV light power up
to 600 watts per linear inch can be done to achieve a 97% or better
cure. Alternatively, if fabric thickness and opacity are not too
high, curing light can be projected from both sides of the fabric
to enhance the curing of the UV ink. Using power much higher can
result in the the burning or even combustion of the fabric, so UV
power has an upper practical limit.
The heat curing or drying station 26 is fixed to the frame 11,
preferably immediately downstream of the UV light curing station.
With 97% UV cure, the ink will be sufficiently color-fast so as to
permit the drying station to be off-line, or downstream of the
quilting station 27. When on-line, the drying station should extend
sufficiently along the length of fabric to adequately cure the
printed ink at the rate that the fabric is printed. Heat cure at
the oven or drying station 26 maintains the ink on the fabric at
about 300.degree. F. for up to three minutes. Heating of from 30
seconds to 3 minutes is the anticipated acceptable range. Heating
by forced hot air is preferred, although other heat sources, such
as infrared heaters, can be used as long as they adequately
penetrate the fabric to the depth of the ink.
The exact percentage of tolerable uncured monomers varies from ink
to ink and product to product. Generally, it is thought that
uncured monomers of UV curable ink should be reduced to below an
order of magnitude of 0.1%, or 1000 PPM, that is, to an order of
magnitude of 100 PPM or less. In the preferred embodiment of the
invention, uncured monomers of UV curable ink are reduced to less
than 100 PPM, and preferably to about 100 PPM. As used herein, the
percentage of portion of remaining uncured monomers refers to the
mass of material that can be removed from a given sample of cured
ink by immersing the cured ink sample in an aggressive solvent such
as toluene, and measuring the amount of material in the solvent
that is removed from the ink by the solvent. The measurements are
made with a gas chromatograph with a mass detector. In the
preferred embodiment of the invention, the measured amount of
material removed from a given sample of the ink is less than 100
PPM by weight of the given cured ink sample. Measurements of 1000
PPM are undesirable. Measurements of 10 PPM are preferred.
The quilting station 27 is located downstream of the oven 26 in the
preferred embodiment. Preferably, a single needle quilting station
such as is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/831,060
to Jeff Kaetterhenry, et al. and entitled Web-fed Chain-stitch
Single-needle Mattress Cover Quilter with Needle Deflection
Compensation, which is expressly incorporated by reference herein,
now U.S. Pat. No. 5,832,849. Other suitable single needle type
quilting machines with which the present invention may be used are
disclosed in U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/497,727 and
08/687,225, both entitled Quilting Method and Apparatus, expressly
incorporated by reference herein, now U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,640,916 and
5,685,250, respectively. The quilting station 27 may also include a
multi-needle quilting structure such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat.
No. 5,154,130, also expressly incorporated by reference herein. In
the figure, a single needle quilting head 38 is illustrated which
is transversely moveable on a carriage 39 which is longitudinally
moveable on the frame 11 so that the head 38 can stitch 360.degree.
patterns on the multi-layered material 29.
The controller 35 controls the relative position of the head 38
relative to the multi-layered material 29, which is maintained at a
precisely known position by the operation of the drive 22 and
conveyor 20 by the controller 35 and through the storage of
positioning information in the memory 36 of the controller 35. In
the quilting station 27, the quilting head 38 quilts a stitched
pattern in registration with the printed pattern 34 to produce a
combined or composite printed and quilted pattern 40 on the
multi-layered web 29. This may be achieved, as in the illustrated
embodiment by holding the assembled web 29 stationary in the
quilting station 27 while the head 38 moves, on the frame 11, both
transversely under the power of a transverse linear servo drive 41,
and longitudinally under the power of a longitudinal servo drive
42, to stitch the 360.degree. pattern by driving the servos 41,42
in relation to the known position of the pattern 34 by the
controller 35 based on information in its memory 36. Alternatively,
the needles of a single or multi-needle quilting head may be moved
relative to the web 29 by moving the quilting head 38 only
transversely relative to the frame 11 while moving the web 29
longitudinally relative to the quilting station 27, under the power
of conveyor drive 22, which can be made to reversibly operate the
conveyor 20 under the control of the controller 35.
In certain applications, the order of the printing and quilting
stations 25,27, respectively, can be reversed, with the printing
station 25 located downstream of the quilting station 27, for
example the station 50 as illustrated by phantom lines in the
figure. When at the station 50, the printing is registered with the
quilting previously applied at the quilting station 27. In such an
arrangement, the function of the curing station 26 would also be
relocated to a point downstream of both the quilting station 27 and
printing station 50 or be included in the printing station 50, as
illustrated.
The cutoff station 28 is located downstream of the downstream end
of the conveyor 20. The cutoff station 28 is also controlled by the
controller 35 in synchronism with the quilting station 27 and the
conveyor 20, and it may be controlled in a manner that will
compensate for shrinkage of the multi-layered material web 29
during quilting at the quilting station 27, or in such other manner
as described and illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,544,599 entitled
Program Controlled Quilter and Panel Cutter System with Automatic
Shrinkage Compensation, hereby expressly incorporated by reference
herein. Information regarding the shrinkage of the fabric during
quilting, which is due to the gathering of material that results
when thick, filled multi-layer material is quilted, can be taken
into account by the controller 35 when quilting in registration
with the printed pattern 34. The panel cutter 28 separates
individual printed and quilted panels 45 from the web 38, each
bearing a composite printed and quilted pattern 40. The cut panels
45 are removed from the output end of the machine by an outfeed
conveyor 46, which also operates under the control of the
controller 35.
The above description is representative of certain preferred
embodiments of the invention. Those skilled in the art will
appreciate that various changes and additions which may be made to
the embodiments described above without departing from the
principles of the present invention. Therefore, the following is
claimed:
* * * * *